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Flames continue to shoot from a pipeline in Deer Park, nearly a full day after it ignited. The City of Deer Park said crews worked through the night on the fire and that it's smaller than it was on Monday.
The fire started just before 10 a.m. Monday at Spencer Highway near East Boulevard near the Brookglen neighborhood.
As for how it happened, the city said an SUV crashed through the fence of a nearby Walmart and hit an above-ground valve, sparking the fire. Energy Transfer officials said they turned off the gas and are allowing the remnants to burn off. Tuesday morning, they said the burn-off would go through later in the day.
They added that this was the safest way to manage the incident. Energy Transfer said they are also providing lodging for those affected.
Four people, including a firefighter, were injured in the fire. Two of them were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
A third-party air monitoring company has been contracted by Energy Transfer, according to the La Porte Office of Emergency Management.
Hundreds of residents between Luella Dr. and Canada and Spencer Highway and Oakhaven/Eagle Run were advised to evacuate. Heritage Elementary and College Park Elementary were also evacuated, along with a nearby H-E-B and Walmart.
Firefighters were spraying nearby homes to try and protect them but smoke could be seen coming from some rooftops.
“The fire, it’s very hot, so a lot of the house structures that are adjacent to that are still catching on fire even though we’re putting a lot of water on them,” Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton Jr. said.
What we know right now
- Energy Transfer says the burnoff timeline is now later Tuesday
- Pipeline fire is along Spencer Highway near East Boulevard
- Liquid natural gas is burning from the pipeline owned by Energy Transfer
- SUV caused the fire by crashing through a fence, hitting a valve
- No signs of terroristic threat
- Driver's identity not revealed
- Brookglen neighborhood evacuated
- San Jacinto College to resume classes Tuesday after being closed Monday
- East Harris County Activity Center to serve as shelter and cooling center
- Faithbridge Church at 4711 Center Street is also a shelter
- The lack of wind is helping keep the fire and smoke from spreading
Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said this pipeline runs along the city limits between Deer Park and La Porte, so emergency responders from both cities are reacting to the fire.
Mouton said the company that owns the pipeline is Energy Transfer and that liquid natural gas is burning.
Mouton Jr. provided this update around 1:30 p.m. Monday:
Energy Transfer said it happened at a valve station and involved a 20-inch natural gas liquids pipeline. They added that the line has been isolated to burn out the residual product.
Here is Energy Transfer's full statement:
"We experienced an incident this morning in La Porte, Texas, at a valve station along Spencer Highway for a 20” natural gas liquids line that resulted in a fire. There are no reports of injuries at this time. The LaPorte Fire Department is on the scene and has evacuated all homes and businesses within a half mile of the incident site. The line has been isolated so that the residual product in the line can safely burn itself out. We have no timeline at this point on how long that process will take, but we are working closely with local authorities. We are aware of early reports indicating that an unknown passenger car entered our right-of-way and struck the value location. Air monitoring equipment is in the process of being set up in the area. We will continue to release details as they become available."
Mouton said the biggest risk was the constant heat being generated from the fire. Energy Transfer lowered the PSI, pound-force per square inch, of the pipeline from 1,400 to 200 to lower the intensity of the fire.
KHOU 11 Investigates' Jeremy Rogalski said there are a series of pipelines that run on an easement in the area where the fire is. Each pipeline has a different hazardous material marker on it. They include petroleum, methanol, dry gas as well as ethane.
Brookglen neighborhood evacuates
Residents in the Brookglen neighborhood reported hearing a loud boom when the fire started.
"I heard a big boom and felt the house shake. I ran out of my bedroom, everyone’s freaking out," Savanna Lee told us. "I open the front door, there’s this fire and I see the fence is on fire. And I was like, 'We gotta go.'"
RELATED: 'Everyone's freaking out' | Residents near Deer Park pipeline fire hoping their homes are spared
East Harris County Activity Center at 7340 Spencer Hwy in Pasadena was set up as an evacuation shelter and cooling center for those affected by the fire.
There were also shelter-in-place orders for the H-E-B, Walmart, Heritage Elementary, College Park Elementary and James H. Baker sixth-grade campus.
H-E-B Public Affairs Houston Managing Director Lisa Helfman said this about their store: "Due to the proximity of the pipeline fire, H-E-B Deer Park is closed and has been evacuated until it is safe to return."
A temporary relocation site was established at the Jimmy Burke Activity Center on 13th Street. Also, the Faithbridge Church at 4711 Center Street is serving as a shelter.
"This is devastating to see this in the back of my yard," one resident told KHOU 11 reporter Troy Kless.
“We kind of knew the area, we know that it’s an industrial area, we know that there’s pipelines behind the house,” a resident said. “We have pipelines all over.”
At around 7 p.m. Monday, the City of La Porte reduced the evacuation area to what you see in the map below. The current evacuation area boundaries are Scotch Moss, Spencer Highway, Canada Road and Oak Haven/Eagle Run. The city has also re-opened Luella Blvd.
Air quality from pipeline fire
According to KHOU 11 Meteorologist Pat Cavlin, winds were light so the flames were just straight up in the sky along with the smoke.
Harris County Pollution Control and Hazmat teams were monitoring the air quality.
Experts said it was safer for the environment to let the fire burn itself out.
San Jacinto College closes for the day
According to the San Jacinto College Office of Emergency Management, the shelter-in-place was lifted at the Central Campus but it will be closed for the rest of Monday and there will be no classes or activities. School officials said Central Campus employees should plan to work remotely.
At this time, the Central Campus plans to re-open on Tuesday morning for scheduled classes, operations, and activities.
Views from Air 11 showed the fire coming from the pipeline with a charred vehicle nearby. There was also a radius of charred grass from a grass fire that was started by the explosion.
Aerial views also showed the grass fire flames close to the fences of homes nearby.
CenterPoint power outage
More than 4,000 customers were left without power due to the fire. Here's a statement from CenterPoint Energy:
"CenterPoint Energy is monitoring the incident on Spencer Highway in LaPorte, which is unrelated to the company’s natural gas operations or equipment. We are also cooperating with first responders. Putting safety first, the public should avoid this area until further notice from local emergency officials. When it is safe to do so, our electric crews will go into the area to assess the damage to our transmission and distribution power lines, poles and equipment and begin restoring service to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible."